come to us from so many high schools in the state at the end of their first year's work, and I often find them way beyond our classes in some respects and wofully deficient in others, this, of course, being due to the difference in our standard text books. It has always seemed fairer to me to consider the two year's work as a unit, for most teachers and books try to accomplish about the same thing in the end. Certainly we would all agree that the ordinary uses of the cases and a thorough knowledge of the verbs and adjectives are essential parts--we might vary on the pronouns.

I think more stress should be placed on the outlining or grouping of nouns, so that the pupil may not feel so helpless. So often he is taught the individual words with their plurals, whereas in most cases he could group dozens of them. For instance, in Thomas's Grammar, we find very few words that could not be classified according to an outline like this:

I. Strong Nouns.

(1) Mainly polysyllabic masculines and neuters, with two feminines Mutter and Tochter.

(2) Mainly monosyllabic masculines with a few monosyllabic feminines and a few neuters. Emphasize das Jahr.

(3) Mainly monosyllabic neuters, no feminines, and a few masculines. Emphasize der Mann, der Wald.

II. Weak Nouns.-Mainly polysyllabic feminines with a few masculines and other feminines; no neuters.

Knabe, der Mensch, der Herr.

III. Mixed Declension.

Emphasize die Frau, der

(1) das Auge; (2) das Bett; (3) das Herz; (4) das Ende.

(1) der Friede; (2) der Nachbar; (3) der Stadt; (4) der Name; (5) der Vetter.

In this outline, stress hould be placed first on the main headings. A teacher would gain by showing the importance of gender. Let the pupil gain confidence in himself by being able to decide definitely, from the outline, the form of his plural, then gradually other nouns could be added, when necessary. I believe this feeling of confidence means a great deal.

The inflection of adjectives, it seems to me, is rarely acquired by the English speaking pupil, except in a mechanical way. We must give him. opportunity after opportunity to use the endings, trying to vary the method of presentation by giving groups of English sentences, in some cases, by giving German sentences with the blanks for adjective terminations, etc. And in this work, I am sure you all meet with the same difficulty—even with students who are German and who come from homes where German is commonly spoken and fairly good German, too. A pupil knows what should be used but doesn't use it. When I hear over and over again when attention is called to a form that is wrong: "Oh yes! That should be so and

so," I feel that I would accomplish better results if I should attempt to teach American parrots who wished to learn German.

With verbs, the difficulties do not seem so great because there is so much similarity in formation of tenses between the English and German. Of course, the use of the auxiliary sein will surely cause trouble. I have often seen a pupil who had had three years of German write down "Er hat gekommen," correcting it instantly but showing that his natural tendency would still be the Anglicized German. I think that a great many texts put too much stress on the use of the Passive and Reflexive Verbs, and not enough on the Compound Verb, which is of such vital importance when the student is to deal with the simplest German story.

Included in the verb would come the question of verb order, which is always a difficult point. We find again that same tendency to write the same order as English in spite of all the German verbs the pupil has seen and readily understood. I believe that mechanical work here cannot be overestimated any more than in the adjective and too much emphasis can not be given to this feature. I think too many of our text books trust to the pupil grasping the principle of order very readily. Well-perhaps he does grasp the principle but oh, the practical side of it! This is where the teacher must supplement the text by reviews adapted to the particular needs of the class. Very few of those who write texts, seem to have realized how apt they are to emphasize a certain point in their lessons and then rarely introduce that point in their later lessons. These review exercises of the teacher must be broad enough to connect these broken links into a complete chain and at the same time to supply any deficiency such as I have suggested in relation to the compound verb.

Pronouns must be included to a certain extent in the first year's work but it seems to me that many of the more idiomatic uses could be left untouched. The pupil finds the pronoun hard because English is so weak in this respect and I would like to eliminate as much as possible until the pupil has gained by reading.

In connection with this work, I try to urge the pupil to use a method of study suitable for any language course. I advise him to take a German exercise, which he has already used in class work, translate it into English, then leave it entirely alone for some time and translate back into German. He has thus a check on his work and I think it trains him to ask himself questions instead of waiting for the teacher. If he writes the sentence, "Der Kahn ist an dem Fluss," and finds that it should be "auf dem Fluss," while "Das Haus ist an dem Fluss," I find that it emphasizes the difference in the use of those prepositions better than any explanation I can make. This also helps to fix in mind verb order, adjective inflection, etc. I have tried the method personally in some work in French and find that I impress upon my mind the principles of French very definitely. Of course this seems very mechanical, but yet it has very material results.

In concluding this section on grammar, I might mention that I believe

in presenting the principles of German Grammar in a systematic way. One of the greatest objections to a large number of the more recent publications, is that they give the pupil a vague scattered impression-a little of the verb, here a little, there a little, and so on with the noun, the adjective, etc. The mind of the average high school pupil doesn't need any help in "scattering," he certainly does need it in "systematizing." That is why in spite of many favorable points of the newer texts, I still cling to my Thomas Grammar for the real foundation of my work.

I have often wished that pupils who come into my classes had a more systematic knowledge of English. I do not care how well they speak English, I find that when it comes to a decision of any point in grammar the pupils are exceedingly weak. You have all had pupils who would say "Er ist einen guten Mann," because "Mann" is the object of the sentence,-then ask, which is correct, "It is I" or "It is me"-and they know "It is I" is correct, but why? Now in this foreign language, studied as the average American pupil studies it, without daily association with Germans, it is almost absolutely essential that there should be more systematic knowledge of our own language. Why not have such a course in English Grammar in our eighth grade or in the Freshman year in High School? I can almost hear the prayer of thanksgiving, that would rise from all the Latin teachers and most of the German and French. I notice that one of the topics for discussion in the English Conference now is "What College Freshmen know about English?" Can you imagine what the speaker will say?

But all this grammar discussion makes German sound very technicalperhaps I have put too much time on the discussion of these points. I certainly do not believe that grammar should constitute the entire work, and here I like the large choice of books we may have. I have already referred to Güerber's book, "Märchen and Erzählungen," and it is certainly one of the best books for elementary work because, as I have said, it repeats and repeats the common vocabulary, leads up gradually to a broader vocabulary, gives the pupil unconsciously a grasp of word-order, and verb forms that is indispensable. These stories should be read in the German and translated only when absolutely necessary. Then too, it affords the best kind of material for conversational work, which should be employed to as great an extent as is possible for teacher and pupil. This text is edited with questions based upon the stories, and this is helpful for the pupil in preparing his lesson, but I think the class work should be more spontaneous, not simply a repeating of the memorized answers. Here again, the teacher of limited resources must hesitate to attempt conversational work-better no conversation at all than a series of parrot-like recitations. The questions, to begin with, should be exceedingly simple; too often we frighten the pupil by questions involving too much effort. I would rather ask the simplest kind of questions for days, in order to have the pupil gain confidence. The use of common expression like "Wie viel Uhr ist es?" "Wie befinden Sie sich?" etc., appeal to a boy or girl of High School age, and I believe

the teacher often gives a stronger impetus to interest in German, in this way than in any other. There is no question in my mind that this is the best way of developing the language, but it often requires more time than we can devote to it. You can't force conversation, you must lead the pupil to it so gradually that he is unconscious of the effort. Naturally, more of this work can be done in second year German: that is where I believe we teachers should be allowed more freedom in letting conversation take the place of translation and composition, to a greater extent than is now possible.

Now comes the problem of selection for second-year work; the conflict in the mind of the teacher, as to whether she shall give to the pupils the classics, or short stories of minor importance in German literature. In my mind, there is no question, and I have made a test of both methods. Much as I love the classics, much as I would enjoy the enthusiasm of the pupils for the brave Wilhelm Tell, I feel that I have no right to inflict upon them. the broader vocabulary, the more complicated sentences of the great poets, when they are still in the elementary stage, it seems to me like inflcting Shakespeare upon our 5th and 6th grade pupils. So it seems to me better to choose stories, written by our best German authors, such as Storm, Heyse, Baumbach, and others, in which the student comes into contact with typical Germans, can contrast them with his types in English, and in which he gains a general knowledge of German life and customs. We hear a great deal of argument as to the amount of translation, that should be allowed, how much should be expected in the English, etc. The main part is to let the student express himself in grammatical English, keeping as closely to his German idiom as possible. Let the teacher herself be the one who should suggest the better word, the more "finished" translation as we say. I am also in favor of emphasizing in second year work the discussion of the stories read, the study of characters. Are these stories not written for the same purpose as English stories? Many pupils never realize that "Caesar" was not written before Christ, merely as a text book, as we prepare an Algebra or Geometry, and to a certain extent, that is true of German. We must make the Germans real people, we must discuss their characteristics, their manner of expression, etc. "Immensee' is rich in its opportunities—a mere translation of Immensee seems to me a sacrilegemany of you have seen the little "Leit-fragen" prepared by some of the University instructors-they certainly lead to such a discussion and I say where it may be impossible in German, it certainly can always be done in English, I believe the social problems of High School can often be touched upon in this way and much actual good be done.

It probably is unnecessary for me to urge the value of sight translation, at any rate I have consumed too much time and must not do so-it seems commonly accepted as a most valuable aid in our teaching of German.

And now about the composition. In second year work why do we include such a feature? I think we shall all agree that it is for the purpose of

emphasizing the fundamental principles of German Grammar; with the gradual addition of such idioms as seem essential. I have been searching for the best method for several years, and to a certain extent, still feel unsatisfied-I know a great many teachers favor the composition based on the text read, which is included in many editions. Personally, I do not like it for a reason, which I have already hinted at-I want the pupil to read his German stories from the standpoint of literature and fear that he will lose the appreciation of the story itself, if it is connected with the composition, which certainly is not the most agreeable part of the work. When he finishes his work, I want him to have a desire to read more stories, to learn more about the Germans and Germany. I do use the method just at present, but I try to make the composition very simple, dealing with a small vocabulary and emphasizing the principles. I prefer a separate composition book, and have used one until very recently, but I found it based on more advanced work, so I finally decided to change. I have received word, that one of the publishing companies expects to publish a similar book, which deals with a trip to Germany, but adapts its choice of vocabulary and idiom to the needs of more elementary pupils. I am looking forward to it with very great pleasure for that comes nearer to my ideals along this line. Some teachers favor reproduction but this, to me, seems too advanced at this stage.

But along with this actual knowledge of German, that must be at the command of every teacher of German, we must not forget the teacher herself-she can do more in arousing enthusiasm for German, by her personality, than by her actual knowledge. A language teacher usually works under adverse circumstances, because her subjects are considered difficult. A pupil once upon hearing that a certain teacher taught Latin and German, remarked, "Well, then, I bet she's a crank." So it behooves her to place even greater stress on her personal attitude toward the pupil. She must have enthusiasm for her subject, she must be a student of human nature, she must be tactful; above all, she must be a friend of her pupils, must sympathize with them. A teacher, who cannot put herself in the place of her pupils, will never be a successful teacher; her class must be a group of human beings to her, not a group of mechanical objects. In other words, a teacher, herself, must be, not a machine, but a human being, who loves her profession, and means to inspire her pupils with enthusiasm for her subjects, and to give them a broader outlook on life.

In a very simple way, I have tried to tell you of these problems of elementary work in German-they may seem to you very trivial ones, but they are the ones that have come to me in my actual experience. (My problems may differ from those of the average High School because my pupils are much older and have had fewer advantages, educationally). I feel that I have presented very few solutions, so it is with relief, that I look back to my title and see that my subject reads "The Problems of Elementary Work in German."